


Missing You

by IveGotRedHair



Category: All Time Low
Genre: Coughing, Fever, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 20:55:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4034278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IveGotRedHair/pseuds/IveGotRedHair
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Alex have been broken up for 3 months, 4 days and 8 hours.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Missing You

**Author's Note:**

> Who wants a sickfic that I teared up writing? Good because here it comes!

Jack stood outside the record store, debating whether to go in. He hadn’t been inside in months and the lore of new music and shiny records was tempting him. The only problem was Alex, it was the boy’s favourite place and Jack didn’t want to bump into him. It had been 3 months, 4 days and.... 8 hours since they broke up and they hadn’t spoken. Not since Alex had walked out the door saying he didn’t want to do it anymore, Jack was still reeling. He looked up at the store, the windows all covered in stickers of his favourite bands. He couldn’t spend his life running from everything that reminded him of Alex so taking a deep breath Jack stepped through the doors. 

Inside it was exactly as Jack remembered it. Posters and guitars covering the walls, cds, records, magazines and everything music related all piled up in the small space. Jack dove for his favourite section, the collection of cds under the name Punk. Jack had been looking around for awhile when he heard a familiar sound. Not a voice, no, a cute little sneeze. Only one person sneezed like that and his name was Alex.   
“Shit.” he swore to himself and hide behind a stack of shelves, hoping Alex wouldn’t see him.   
He sneezed again and coughed, Jack could see him standing by the door looking at all the new releases. He looked the same as ever, a dark beanie pulled over his messy hair, dark eyes darting across as he read the titles, dressed in skinny jeans and favourite hoodie; the hoodie he always worse when he was feeling under the weather. Jack smiled at the memory of him and Alex before the moment shattered. Alex had left him, Alex didn’t want him anymore no matter how much Jack still did. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Alex coughing, loud and painful he sounded awful. Jack couldn’t help but wonder why he was out but then Alex had always been stubborn. He hated to admit he was sick and would ignore it until Jack called him out on it.   
Jack waited until Alex was moved away from the door but deciding to make his escape, hoping to get out the door before Alex saw him. He did make it to the door, sighing with relief he began to move away when heard his name.   
“Jack?”   
Damn his skunk coloured hair, it gave him away.   
“Hi Alex.”   
He turned back to face the boy, he still looked as good as Jack remembered.  
“I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Alex said.   
“Me neither, I guess I just thought...”  
He was cut off as Alex sneezed, pulling a tissue out of his sleeve to blow his redden nose.   
“Are you okay?” Jack asked.   
“Just a cold, I’m fine.”   
They fell into an awkward silence, neither really knowing what to say. Alex coughed, covering his mouth with his arm as his body nearly doubled over. Jack took the bottle of water out his bag and handed it to Alex.   
“I think you need this more than me”.   
“Thanks.”   
Alex took a few sips and managed to get his breathing back under control.   
“You should be in bed.”   
Alex frowned, like Jack had struck a chord. Jack couldn’t help wondering, if there was something wrong...  
“Can’t.” Alex mumbled.   
An idea formed in Jack’s head, a really, really stupid idea.   
“Hmm... Do you want to come back with me? My mum would kill me if I left you out here with a nasty cold and nowhere to go.”   
Alex didn’t answer for a moment, sniffling and rubbing his tired eyes.   
“Are you sure that’s alright?” he asked.   
“Yeah, I even have the new Avengers movie,” Jack offered, he’d remembered that Alex had been so despite to see it just before they broke up.   
“Hmm yeah okay.”   
Jack’s heart hammered against his chest, Alex was coming with him. He wanted to hold his hand out and pull Alex along but he thought that was too far, he was just being friendly. Or that’s what he kept telling himself. 

The walk back to Jacks was awkward, the silence only filled with Alex’s various coughs and sneezes. He obviously had another bad cold and was in need of medicine; Jack tried to push away the thoughts of taking care of Alex. Those days were over. Alex looked uncomfortable as they reached Jack’s apartment, after all it was the door he’d walked out of. Jack didn’t mention it, he wasn’t going to be those of people he demanded answers out of their ex’s, even if the questions were burning him up inside.   
“Can I make you some tea?” Jack asked, dumping his bag and jacket by the door.   
“Thanks.”   
Alex just stood in the middle of the room; nothing had really changed since he’d lived there. He’d never expected to come back but there was something comfortable, something familiar about it.   
“You can sit down you know” Jack teased from the kitchen.   
“Oh yeah, sorry this is just kind of weird.”   
“My ex boyfriend is in my living room, you’re telling me,” Jack tried to joke but luckily it was lost in Alex going into a coughing fit.   
Bringing the tea over Jack sat beside Alex and rubbed his back until he was able to breathe again. It felt strange to touch Alex again, to feel his body against his hand again. He’d felt Alex against him a thousand times but Alex had never been such a stranger to him.   
“Thanks,” Alex mumbled, taking the tea in his shaking hands.   
“So... How’s life?” Jack asked, trying to get a conversation going.   
“It’s okay, I’ve started working a Cafe down town, and I get to play a couple of songs on a Thursday so that’s good”   
“How’s the music?”   
Alex had always loved his music. It was his passion in life and wanted to spend his life with a guitar in hand.   
“Pretty good, I’ve written a couple more songs.”   
“I’d like to hear them sometime.”   
“You should come down to the cafe,” he said.   
The conversation kind of died there, Alex didn’t ask about Jack. Maybe because Jack was right in thinking Alex didn’t care anymore, he’d been able to move on why Jack was still on the ground. Well they say hearts never break even.   
Alex sniffed and put his hand to his head, wincing slightly. He had a killer headache and the pain killers he took hours ago were wearing off fast, he was becoming aware of just much everything ached.   
“Do you want some meds?” Jack asked.   
“If you don’t mind, my heads pounding.”   
Jack got up, going to the bathroom cabinet were he kept the medicine. Alex remembered, he’d gotten things out of cabinet plenty of times in the two years he’d lived in that apartment.   
“Here.”   
Jack returned with a couple of pills and a glass of water.   
“Thanks.”   
“Are you sure you’re okay? You look awful.”   
Being so close to him Jack couldn’t help but notice the washed out look of Alex’s skin, the dark marks beneath his eyes, his nose rubbed raw and even the small shiver he tried to suppress.   
“Not really,” Alex admitted, rubbing his eyes.   
“What’s wrong?”   
Jack thinks Alex is going to tell him he’s got pneumonia or something but the words that come out of his mouth turn Jack’s insides to ice.   
“I started dating someone else....”  
Alex was cut off as he coughed again, loud and painful. Jack put his hand to Alex’s back again, he could feel the heat radiating off him. Jack put his wrist to Alex’s forehead, trying to fight away the memories of the last time.   
“You’re burning up.”   
Alex groaned and tried to stifle a yawn.   
“I’m going to get you some fever reducers, and then you can sleep, okay?”   
Alex nodded weakly too sick to argue. Jack got him the medicine and a few sips of water before he’d fallen asleep on Jack’s couch.   
Jack didn’t know what he was supposed to do; his ex boyfriend was passed out his couch, his ex boyfriend whom he was still in love with. He ended up pulling a blanket over the sleeping boy and just sitting on the floor. The words Alex had said still going around in his head, he was with somebody else. Maybe that had always been it, maybe there had always been somebody else but Alex had tried to spare his feelings, tried to make it easier by not telling him he wasn’t good enough. Why did love have to hurt? Jack looked back at the boy sleeping behind him; he just missed Alex so damn much. 

Alex woke up feeling horrible but as he blinked the world into focus he saw his living room.... Then he remembered it wasn’t his living room anymore, it was Jack’s and Jack’s alone. Groaning Alex sat up but it only made his head spin.   
“Here”   
Jack magically appeared beside him and put a glass of water in his hands.   
“How long was I out?” Alex asked.   
“Only about two hours” Jack replied, sitting down at Alex’s feet and testing Alex’s temperature with the back of his hand.   
“This feels so familiar”   
“What does?” Jack asked.   
“You taking care of me after I’ve done something stupid”   
Jack smiled for a second before it turned to a frown.   
“What stupid thing have you done this time?” he asked.   
“Bar the obvious? Well I broke up with you”   
“I thought... I thought you were dating someone else”   
“I am”   
“You can’t have it both ways Alex! You either miss me or you don’t,” Jack snapped.   
“I miss you so much, I’ve always missed you but as I sit here with you by my side... It feels so right. I fucked everything up, I should never have left.”   
“Why... Why did you leave?” Jack asked.   
“I was scared, we’d been together for over 3 years and I was scared of what happened next. I thought I had to get out, I thought I had to escape when in reality I just made things a thousand times worse.”   
Jack bit his lip as he looked at the pitiful sight in front of him. Those stupid chocolate eyes and had made him fall so hard for Alex in the first place, the ones staring at him with more sorrow than he could take.   
“You could have come back,” Jack mumbled.   
“I didn’t think you wanted me too, I fucked things up so badly I didn’t think you’d ever want to see me again.”   
“That might have been true if I wasn’t still in love with you.”   
“You’re... You’re still?” Alex tried to ask, his voice cracking.   
“Never stopped.”   
Tears ran down Alex’s cheeks, he sniffed and tried to wipe them away but Jack got there first. His hand on Alex’s face, his skin warm and damp with tears.   
“I love you too Jack.”   
Jack pulled Alex close, wrapped his arms tightly around the boy’s waist and kissed him. It didn’t matter that Alex was sick, it didn’t matter because it was Alex, because those were the kisses it’d been missing for so long. It felt even better than Jack remembered.   
“Is this real?” Jack asked after a moment.   
“Yeah, believe me if I were dreaming I wouldn’t be this sick,” Alex moaning, coughing lightly into his fist.   
“What were you doing out today?” Jack asked, moving Alex’s sweaty hair away from his eyes.   
“It’s our Anniversary,” Alex mumbled.   
“It’s our....”  
The date had completely slipped Jack’s mind, it was their anniversary. Alex had remembered even when Jack had forgotten, just like always,   
“Is that you were at the record store?”   
Alex nodded. Jack knew that Alex always went there when he was sad, or needed to on his own. It was his special place.   
“You never gave up did you?” Jack asked.   
Alex shook his head.   
“Is this it then? Is this us again?”   
“If you want it to be,” Alex said.   
“But what about you? Isn’t there someone...”  
“Not compared to you, there’s no one who compares to you,” Alex answered.   
Tears appeared in Jack’s eyes and Alex moved to wipe them away.   
“I’ve missed you so much,” Jack cried.   
“I’ve missed you from the moment I walked out that door.”   
Jack cried, burying his face in Alex’s shoulder. It was his Alex, his stupid Alex was by his side again.   
“I love you.”   
“I love you to...”   
Alex was cut off coughing and Jack was reminded his boyfriend, yes his fucking boyfriend was in fact really ill.   
“Let’s get you better, shall we?” he said, moving Alex’s sweaty away from his eyes; his eyes that though glassy with fever seemed more alive than moment ago.   
“Please, I’ve had enough of dying.”   
Jack laughed and kissed Alex’s nose.   
“I promise to never leave again, I missed you too damn much,” Alex said.   
“You better not,” Jack replied.   
The whole thing felt too good to be true, Jack’s missing piece was back in place and the world felt right again. All because Alex was back.


End file.
